Richy25's brew diary.

[Richy25]

Thought I'd start a bit of a brew diary, as I keep bumping ancient threads.

Long time wine brewer, wondering why it took my so long to try beer!

1st kit was a Festival golden stag, was kegged, turned out flat but was still delicious.

Just dry hopped my 2nd MJ grapefruit IPA so will be bottling this time, Will update with some pics, and a ton of questions.

Already thinking just to go for a desktop bottler as ive caught the bug now and want it to be easy.

 

[Richy25]

My plan is to just batch prime in my wilko keg and bottle from there, prob get a bottling wand too.

Just going to use granulated sugar any idea on quantity for a decent fizz.

Pretty excited for my 1st bottling, that no doubt will subside after a few runs. :)

Thanks.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Brewers friend has a calculator just put in
1. Volume in litres.
2. Fermentation temperature
3. Carbonation in volumes,put in 2.
It will give you the weight of sugar to add

 

[Richy25]

thanks Cheshire, ill have a look at that.

 

[Richy25]

Ok so manged to get my 23lt MJ IPA bottled this morning in the bathroom. Ended up with 33 bottles all 500ml with a handful of 650ml;s. 2 quarts jars and a wine bottle :)

I added 130g priming sugar to aim at 2.3 carbonation volume, to my wilkos keg. Just used milton tablets and used the bath as my main sink and rinser. ALso knee kneeler for the duration. :)

Bottled with this home brew online £20 capper. A BREEZE to use. Excellent bit of kit. Handled every bottle with zero effort, including those tall thin Aspal cider ones. People say they struggle getting it off the bottle? A child could do it.!

I had 2 4 gallon buckets which cam in quite useful as u can fit 10 bottles sterilizing and then use that to drain another 10 on top of them. SO between the two its quite easy to drain 20 at a time. Think i'll be making a home made bottle tree next time as they're quite pricey.

Is it normal for beer to still be cloudy at this stage?

Also i just have bottles above kitchen units to condition. But temps drop at night will this be ok still?

2 weeks minimum is it?

 

[Pavros]

I hope the wine bottle (and the jars) all held carbonated drinks before you used them. If not, then they are not manufactured to withstand pressure and you may have potential bottle bombs on your hands. If they were used for still drinks, I would be removing the caps to release the pressure and re-bottling in proper beer bottles or even 2 litre fizzy pop bottles in an emergency.

 

[ClownPrince]

Ok so manged to get my 23lt MJ IPA bottled this morning in the bathroom. Ended up with 33 bottles all 500ml with a handful of 650ml;s. 2 quarts jars and a wine bottle :)

I added 130g priming sugar to aim at 2.3 carbonation volume, to my wilkos keg. Just used milton tablets and used the bath as my main sink and rinser. ALso knee kneeler for the duration. :)

Bottled with this home brew online £20 capper. A BREEZE to use. Excellent bit of kit. Handled every bottle with zero effort, including those tall thin Aspal cider ones. People say they struggle getting it off the bottle? A child could do it.!

I had 2 4 gallon buckets which cam in quite useful as u can fit 10 bottles sterilizing and then use that to drain another 10 on top of them. SO between the two its quite easy to drain 20 at a time. Think i'll be making a home made bottle tree next time as they're quite pricey.

Is it normal for beer to still be cloudy at this stage?

Also i just have bottles above kitchen units to condition. But temps drop at night will this be ok still?

2 weeks minimum is it?

I had that capper for a while (or one that looked very very similar). Worked great at first but eventually the arms started to bend and it got impossible to use. Still better than any of the plastic cappers i've had.

 

[Richy25]

good advice pavros thanks Ill move em to better bottles soon as possible. :tinhat: our lass did mention......

 

[Richy25]

I had that capper for a while (or one that looked very very similar). Worked great at first but eventually the arms started to bend and it got impossible to use. Still better than any of the plastic cappers i've had.

yeah mate, hopefully get a year or too out of it before i upgrade to a desktop.

 

[Richy25]

Idont have a steady carbonation temperature really, will this be a big problem? 12 all night to 19 . Will it still carbonate but just take another week maybe?

 

[ClownPrince]

Idont have a steady carbonation temperature really, will this be a big problem? 12 all night to 19 . Will it still carbonate but just take another week maybe?

I leave mine to Carb in my hallway, probably get a similar variation. Never had a problem, wouldn't worry about it, just make sure you leave them 2-3 weeks.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I leave my bottles under the stairs for 2 weeks at about 18c and then move to the garage at about 6c this time of year.

 

[Justin Dean]

Ok so manged to get my 23lt MJ IPA bottled this morning in the bathroom. Ended up with 33 bottles all 500ml with a handful of 650ml;s. 2 quarts jars and a wine bottle :)

I added 130g priming sugar to aim at 2.3 carbonation volume, to my wilkos keg. Just used milton tablets and used the bath as my main sink and rinser. ALso knee kneeler for the duration. :)

Bottled with this home brew online £20 capper. A BREEZE to use. Excellent bit of kit. Handled every bottle with zero effort, including those tall thin Aspal cider ones. People say they struggle getting it off the bottle? A child could do it.!

I had 2 4 gallon buckets which cam in quite useful as u can fit 10 bottles sterilizing and then use that to drain another 10 on top of them. SO between the two its quite easy to drain 20 at a time. Think i'll be making a home made bottle tree next time as they're quite pricey.

Is it normal for beer to still be cloudy at this stage?

Also i just have bottles above kitchen units to condition. But temps drop at night will this be ok still?

2 weeks minimum is it?

Mate ditch the mangler seriously, get a bench capper as it will save you so much time on bottling

 

[Richy25]

Thanks for the comments on temperature lads I'll just leave em be. Have emptied the ticking bomb's into proper bottled now.

Regarding the capper,yeah I really fancied the bench one but just couldn't stretch the 40 quid for a good one. I honestly can't see a bench capper.being that much quicker really. If I can get a good few brews done with this one ill upgrade when it goes floppy.

 

[An Ankoù]

Thanks for the comments on temperature lads I'll just leave em be. Have emptied the ticking bomb's into proper bottled now.

Regarding the capper,yeah I really fancied the bench one but just couldn't stretch the 40 quid for a good one. I honestly can't see a bench capper.being that much quicker really. If I can get a good few brews done with this one ill upgrade when it goes floppy.

My capper looks very similar to that. It's marked "BETTER BREW" on the top. I've been using it for at least ten years and have done hundreds of batches with it. While it's beginning to feel a little rickety as the rivets wear and loosen, it shows no signs of bending or breaking. And, yes, it does bottles that other cappers struggle with: I had a load of 33cl Urquel bottles that required a bit of technique, but they capped fine.
I've looked at bench cappers, but it seems to me that your bottles all have to be the same height otherwise you keep having to adjust the thing. Or are there some that compensate for this?

 

[Justin Dean]

Having persisted with Mangler for 3 years and now moved to bench capper, even with changing height occassionally I am bottling at least 50% faster. It is much more efficient. The trick is to do bottles at same height then changing it to lower or higher height before doing those ones. Yes like a lot of things, expense is a factor. Choices.

 

[Richy25]

My capper looks very similar to that. It's marked "BETTER BREW" on the top. I've been using it for at least ten years and have done hundreds of batches with it. While it's beginning to feel a little rickety as the rivets wear and loosen, it shows no signs of bending or breaking. And, yes, it does bottles that other cappers struggle with: I had a load of 33cl Urquel bottles that required a bit of technique, but they capped fine.
I've looked at bench cappers, but it seems to me that your bottles all have to be the same height otherwise you keep having to adjust the thing. Or are there some that compensate for this?

Im sure the bench cappers are superior to use, but i agree this thing seems solid, and capped them with such ease I can also see it lasting me a lifetime!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Although my bottles are all 500ml they are of different heights and have a different width and depth protrusion on neck, so the £10 Wilko plastic capper can handle them all.

 

[Justin Dean]

Remember to cap twice. Press. Rotate bottle and press again. Helps carbonation

 

[Richy25]

Oh the joy 38 pints of carbinatined goodness this time. Impressed with the manjo jack's grapefruit,on par with festival summer stag for sure. Lovely pint.